286 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[August, 



the Transactions liad snfficiently answered that question at tlie time it was 

 produced, and it was not to be doubted that anotlicr would equally vindicate 

 their proceedings though a longer delay tliau might be desirable bad inter- 

 vened between the two. 



In conclusion his Lordship expressed his warmest wishes for the continued 

 jirosperity of the Institute, and his determination to contribute to it by every 

 means in his power. 



To all who knew how greatly the Institute are indebted to the support of 

 their noble President, this assurance cannot fail to be gratifying in the highest 

 degree. 



NOTES OF THE .MOXTIl. 



Blenlieim Palace is likely to be repaired at the public expeuce ; a bill is 

 now before Parliament for providing the necessary funds. 



Blackfriar's Bridge was closed on the 21st ult. against all horse-convey- 

 ances, for the purpose of completing the repairs and paving the roadway, 

 ■which are expected to be finished and the l)ridge again opened by the 1st of 

 next month. 



At Brighton, Sir Samuel Brown is engaged in making a survey and taking 

 soundings of the coast, for the pur))Ose of ascertaining whether it is practi- 

 cal)le to construct an asylum harbour by means of au extensive break- 

 water. 



We perceive by the daily papers, that Mr. Barry has had several inter- 

 ■views with the Commissioners of M'oods, &c. on the subject of laying the 

 foundation-stone of the new Houses of Parliament ; we were in hopes from 

 the rapid progress that is being made in the erection, that this mummery 

 was likely to he done away with — we hojjc so still ; it is quite a farce, to call 

 it the foundation-stone, now that the buikhng has considerably advanced in 

 height above the ground. 



The bouses lately built by Jlr. Cuhitt, in Lowndes Square, near Belgrave 

 Square, in the combined styles of the EUzabethan and Venetian, are deserving 

 of a survey by the architect. 



We arc hapjiy to hear that Government has determined to have engraved, 

 at the public expeuce, the elaborate drawings of St. Stephoi's Chapel, which 

 have been made with great care by Mackenzie. 



The design for the Oxford memorial to the martyrs, is decided in favour 

 of Mr. Scott ; we understand that it is in the style of ^^'altham Cross. 



The Duke of Devonshire's grand picture gallery at Chatsworth, which was 

 commenced under the superintcndance of the late Sir Jeffry Wyatville, has 

 been just completed. Many of the gems of art at Chiswick and Devonshire 

 House it is said, will be transfeiTcd to this gallery. 



The sum of .f5,000. has been voted by Parhament for the improvement 

 of Trafalgar Square. Tliis amount appears to us very" inadeq\iate to do all 

 the work stated in the report given in the last months' Journal. A 

 Committee of the House of Commons has, for some time been sitting, to 

 consider whether it would not be prejudicial to the effect of Trafalgar Square 

 and the adjoining buildings, particularly the National GalleiT. The follow- 

 ing (pieries liave been put to Sir Richard Westmacott and Messrs. Barry, 

 Deering, Donaldson, Burton, Sydney Sniirke and others, with the view of 

 ehciting the opinions of those artists on the subject. M'hen the report of 

 the evidence has been pubUshed, it will be interesting to see how these gen- 

 tlemen have treats d the matter, and the reasons they may adduce for their 

 ■various opinions : — What effect, in your opinion, will a column, of wdiich the 

 pedestal, including the steps is 43 feet high, and the height altogether 170, 

 have upon the National GalleiT? Wiat etfect, in your opinion, will the 

 said column have as an ornamental olyect, in condunation with the sur- 

 rounding buildings ? What etfect will the column have on the National 

 Gallery as you approach it from Whitehall ? How far do you consider that 

 position a favourable position for the column itself? "The answers, we 

 think, cannot be doubtful. The plans, &c. can be seen by ai)pUcation at the 

 Committee Clerk's office. 



Mr. Bielefeld, with considerable ingenuity, has applied Papier Mache to a 

 new purpose, that is for delineating the map of a country, by the aid of 

 ■jvhii'h, be is enabled to shew all the cmineucies in relief, and at one view the 

 comparative hciglit of the mountains, and a general character of the country. 

 The model which Jlr. Bielefeld has lately completed of the Pyrenees, is now 

 exhibiting at his mamifactory ; it was made from the elaborate model of Sir 

 T. L. Mitchell, wlio devoted very consideralde labour to it in marking out the 

 seat of the Peninsular warfare , together with the principal rivers, mountains, 

 vallies, villages, towns, and forests, ■which are all laid down to a scale ■with 

 great accuracy. 



At the distribution of prizes at the King's College on the 1st ult., Profes- 

 sor Moseley read a statement of the progress of the department of Civil 

 Engineering ajid .-Vrcldtectm-e ; it was replete with information, and of such 

 a gratifying character, that we regret we cannot publish it in our present 

 months' Journal as was our intention. The mode of instruction is very 

 excellent, as laying the foundation of an intuitive education, and renders a 

 youth capable of appreciating the value of the ])rofession of which he is to 

 become a member, as well as prepares him to apply tlie kno^vledge he has 

 obtained to practical objects in the otfice of the engineer or architect. 



DREDGE'S PATENT SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 



Sir, — I noticed a letter in your last Journal from Mr. Curtis, on suspension 

 bridges, and am sorry, on his account, that he should have so strangely at- 

 tempted to mislead the public on so important a branch of mechanics. He 

 has there stated, that in 1838 he submitted his invention to the British 

 Association at Newcastle, that mine was introduced to their notice last year, 

 1839, that there is an identity of principle in the two inventions, &;c. Now 

 unfortunately for his claim to priority, I patented my invention early in 1330, 

 and carried it into practice successfully the saTne year, in the \'ictoria Bridge 

 at Bath. I was at Newcastle in August, 1838, and there submitted it to the 

 British Association, v\-ho unanimously acknowledged its merits (see the 

 Journal, vol. i. p. 350.) the particulars of wl'.ich were published in No. 794 

 of the Mechanic's ilagazine. 



At Birmingham, in 1839, I read a paper on Bridge Architecture, and no 

 one disjjuted the position I assumed. Mr. Curtis must be ■well aware of 

 these facts, for I believe he was present at both meetings, but why he has 

 found it convenient to forget the former, I must leave for him to explain. I 

 am, however, most astonished that he should so imprudently assert that 

 there is an identity in our plans ; it is an assertion that he cannot prove, and 

 it is impossible for the most ordinary observer to look at them, vrithont de- 

 tecting that difference which he pretends not to see. I would here ask him, 

 was his important discovery acknowledged by the British Association to be 

 new and correct ? and if so, has it ever been carried out in ])ractice ? I would 

 thank him to answer these questions, and also to state the dift'erence between 

 the bridge of which he says, he is the original inventor, and that proposed 

 by M. Poyet, 40 years ago, and the one at King's Meadows across the Tweed, 

 constructed in 1817.* 



It now remains to be observed, that Mr. Curtis, as an inventor, has no 

 reason to complain, as his invention is very different, is undoubtedly of later 

 date, and is in his own oiiinion, the best of all suspension bridges. If you 

 will insert, in your useful Journal, the above, you will obUge, Su", your hum- 

 ble servant, 



James Dredge. 



Baf/i, Juli) 9, 1840. 



■^ Drewry in his work on suspension bridges, has given particulars and draw- 

 ings of these bridges. 



STEAM PASSAGE TO INDIA. 



The Prospectus of the proposed Company for carrying into effect the long 

 dormant plan of traversing, by means of steam, the distance between this 

 country and mir Oriental possessions, has been extensively circulated during 

 the present month ; and from the vast importance of the subject which it 

 embraces, as well as from its intrinsic merit, and the solidity of the basis 

 upon which the scheme therein set forth stands, it merits a more elaborate 

 notice than we have hitherto been able to give it. 



Since the year 1830, two Select Committees of the House of Commons, 

 and one Private Committee, composed of men of the highest character for 

 honour, intelligence, and wealth in the city of London, have sat at intervals 

 of from two to four years, and have thoroughly sifted the question of Steam 

 Comnumication to India. The labours of these three conmiittees are em- 

 bodied in as many volumes of evidence, pnbhslied respectively in 1834, 1837, 

 and 1839 ; and it is upon the unanimous, and almost undivided opinions and 

 judgment of such men as the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, Lord W. 

 Bentinck, Sir Pulteney Malcolm, Captain Sir David Dunn, Messrs. Maudslay 

 and Field, and other eminent engineers, and a host of other authorities, 

 equally valuable and weiglity in their respective departments, that the pre- 

 sent undertaking has been determined upon. 



The line of route adopted by the Company, is the one so ably and so suc- 

 cessfully advocated liy Captain Barber in his pamphlet on the subject, namely, 

 by sea from the English port of embarkation to Alexandria, thence over the 

 Isthmus to Suez, and thence again down the Red Sea to G.ille, and along the 

 Coromandel coast to Madras and Calcutta. The other routes, as is well 

 known, are the Cape line, the Syrian and Eujihrates line, and variation of the 

 rVlexandrian line, by crossing the territory of France from Dieppe or Calais to 

 Marseilles ; but the objections to all these lines are so incontestibly strong, 

 when compared with the simple and continuous route determined upon by 

 the Comp<iny, that it needs only to place a few of the leading points before our 

 readers to iiuluce them to coincide in the decided opinion which we have 

 formed as to the respective merits of the different lines. A glance at the 

 table of rehitive distances, set forth in the Map a]ipended to Mr. Curtis's 

 temperate and manly exposure of " The state of the question of Indian Steam 

 Communieatioii," will show that the number of miles between Calcutta and 

 Engl.ind by the Cape route is 11,750, being 3,430 miles greater than that by 

 Suez and the Red Sea, consequently lengthening the voyage, and materially 

 enhancing its risks and annoyances, not to say its expenses, beyond those 

 wbicl) will attend the line chosen. It must however be fairly stated, that 

 even the Cape line, with all its inconveniences and additional delays, would 

 be far preferable to the chimerical and impracticable scheme for converting 

 the Euiibrates and Tigris into English canals, and for taming the ■n-ild Noma- 

 dians of the Syrian and Mesopotamian deserts down into well-behaved honest 

 rovers. Nay, we find amongst the minutes of evidence taken before the Pri- 

 vate Committee, of which Mr. Curtis was the cliaimian, that Captain Barber, 



